Southwest & JetBlue Merger

8 thoughts on “Southwest & JetBlue Merger”

1. JB / SW merger will not be good for Worcester. SW was never a thought for Worcester airport. If the merger was to happen it would probably take a few years. Worcester needs to attract a few more airlines. I’m flying Delta to FLL in April out of Boston and I’m like ugh. Worcester has spoiled me, I don’t want to loose the convenience.

2. There would be very little chance that SW would be allowed to buy JB (absena bankruptcy court sale).

3. I drove by the airport on Saturday and there was a huge parking problem, lots full, cars parked along left side of the road, opposite side of passenger drop off.

4. 3 things to comment about
   1. The ORH to RSW (Fort Myers) flight is expected to return at the end of October 2024. Sundays and Thursdays remain for booking. No exact date when daily flights will return as you can only book until February 2025 but the end of February or beginning of March a return to daily service should be expected.
   2. American’s flight is moving to a later time in May. Leaving JFK at 3pm and then leaving ORH at 4:36pm. This is scheduled until the beginning of June so only temporary. Flight loads for May won’t be good.
   3. JetBlue is expected to be off for September and a majority of October on Tuesdays and Wednesdays again. This is expected because flight loads are usually lower in those months because of kids back to school and the New England states don’t have a week off in the fall so it shouldn’t be a surprise. Hopefully this doesn’t get extended again though.

5. I made a comment a while back when either Burlington got Breeze or when Manchester got Avelo and how Bangor and Worcester were the only 2 airports in New England with more than 1 airline at their airport that doesn’t have breeze or avelo operating flights out of it. Today that becomes false as Worcester (starting in October) will be the only airport in New England without either airline flying out of it. Bangor just got 3 routes with breeze starting in October to Orlando, Tampa, and Fort Myers.

   While we know ORH is trying to get a flight to Puerto Rico or more flights to NYC (Boston Globe article is the source on that), I think airline officials are realizing these past 4 weeks that parking is a major issue. Yes it’s great that the flights are doing extremely well right now with school vacations and spring break but there is no over flow lot. Breeze or Avelo wouldn’t have any issue flying to Florida or a different destination and for it to be popular but Worcester needs to address the parking situation soon and fix it before more flights could come in.

   The article also mentioned that Andy Davis doesn’t like the idea of shuttles from an overflow lot to the airport (WRTA current bus doesn’t count) so if there’s going to be more spots, they’ll have to figure it out quick. The new spots on the upper lot are supposedly temporary but may have to become permanent with how good demand is. The moral of the story right now is: other airports are expanding with more flights and destinations while ORH is currently sitting with the 5 they have because they can’t add more. I’m flying out with American to Nashville in 3 weeks during April vacation and flying back in 4 weeks with delta. I’ll be curious to see how the parking lots are at those times

6. Plenty of land around the airport. They could build a parking garage fast. The parking garage on the old Mt carmal church lot went up in one month. Amazing how fast it was constructed. PR would work great. Take off at 11 pm return to Worcester 6 am and take off to FLL at 7:30. Worcester can support two flights a day to FLL. A lot of people from central Ma are buying in the Broward/ lower Palm beach county area. When I fly to my house in DR at 11 pm from Logan the PR flight is always full.

7. An Uber to the airport for people who live in Worcester or the several nearby towns is a viable solution. I’d do it if I was worried about getting a space. I already use a car service for Logan because it is on par with the cost of parking there now that Logan raised to parking rate at Central Parking.

8. SW is going after Jb in my opinion, they want to diversify their fleet, SW wants the a320/a330/a220. Their pilots want the equipment diversity as well. The current administration may not give the nod, but another administration may.

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